car and bike both in the garden

The very first step of getting used to the life in the Netherlands was to buy a bike! However, it became even more difficult to find a bike with an average price when all of the exchange students who arrived at UvT thought the same in the first week. Finally, I found one for myself and I have been using it until now without being stolen. (Oh God, why are they stolen so frequently?) After my first month, now I am more balanced and I can control it better especially after the traffic lights are turned to green… No matter how long I stay, I am still amazed with the Dutch lifestyle about how much they have integrated bikes to their daily life. People can ride with umbrella in one hand, elderly couples go shopping by bike (whereas my grandmother even can not walk), mothers carry their child in the back seat etc. The best part is that I did not have to pay any money for the transportation since my second week. It is like the realization of a fairy tale, a heaven, a magic that I always wanted to make it happen on my own in Turkey but could not… But what will happen when I turn back? Will I ever have a car and a bike both in my front door some time in my life, like the family in that picture? Too difficult to answer…

the smiley sun after the rain

The second step was getting used to Dutch rainy weather, which can never ever be predicted by a foreigner. The problem is that before getting out of the room when you look out of your window, a perfect shiny day welcomes you. However, after 5 minutes of cycling it starts to rain! You think that it is not so much so you can still go to the school and attend the lectures without being too wet. Upss, you are completely wrong! On the half way, it starts to rain like cats and dogs and you get wet until your underwear... It is not finished yet, when you finally manage reaching at UvT you start looking for a heater to dry yourself but there is none!! There is no dryer in the toilets or any other places as if you were the only one who get soaked in the rain because everyone looks totally normal. So I had to turn back to home to dry myself. On the bus, I started thinking about where to buy a huge raincoat, something like a tent to cover all my body, jeans etc. Since the day I bought a big raincoat I feel like having upgraded to the next level in the play J From now on I started enjoying the rain and catch the enjoy of the moment when the sun starts to smile at me among the clouds…

tall and fascinating

Every time when I have a lecture finishing late, on the way back home I could not resist the beauty of this tall, slim building. It is so charming that sometimes I am afraid of falling of my bicycle while trying to look at it. For me, in the night time it is one of the most inspiring buildings in Tilburg and I will definitely miss that fear of losing my balance while looking at it when I turn back. So I always kept telling to my friends that I should take a picture of it one day and at last here it is. I am sure you have already recognized it : Westpoint…

free city tour

Last weekend I had the chance to have a trip to Berlin, thanks to my friend who found a very cheap high speed train ticket. I was lucky to learn about free city tours from my flat mate before. So I learned the details which can be generally found at the back of the city maps, and attended to one of them on Saturday. These free tours are also available in the most of the biggest cities in Europe such as Madrid, Amsterdam, Paris etc. The system works like that; you meet at a certain place and at a certain time which is fixed and a guide (who are generally young and enjoyable people) explains you the story behind the city during a 3,5 hours walk around the most important places of the city. At the end of the tour you just only give a tip to the guide which can be any amount that you want. I certainly recommend everyone to attend these tours if possible because looking at a building without knowing the stories behind it is one of the worst things that you can do as a tourist. While we were waiting at the café for people to gather, suddenly this people came and started to wave as with this puppet, for me this was a summary of my ideas about Berlin which is a city that you can never anticipate what will happen next…

wholes in the Wall

When I thought about Berlin the first thing that comes to my mind was the Berlin Wall. I actually expected it to be at least 3 meter high, but as you can see it is relatively low. Another interesting thing is that now there is a barrier in front of the ruins of the wall, because generally tourists who came to see it used to cave and take some pieces of it as a memory. Still, you can see the traces of this habit looking at the big wholes in the wall…